


Rock Tumbling

by mysteryinc



Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: F/F, Hurt/Comfort, also some time skips and jumps and stuff, exploring my own headcanons abt catra poking adora's forehead, hope u all enjoy, i always thought it was So Cute but also a v curious action to do, i haven't written anything in ages so it feels good to finally write something ahh, i think??, idk i never feel like what i write is that painful but i've been told otherwise so u be the judge, so have this thing, this is not strictly linear
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-31
Updated: 2020-08-31
Packaged: 2021-03-07 03:15:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,268
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26210065
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mysteryinc/pseuds/mysteryinc
Summary: Salineas had been a terrible place. There was the water, the almost drowning, a freaking boat? Sure, a good bout of seasickness builds character, as the commanders liked to say. But then the hugging. Gross.  It was like Shadow Weaver had seen all of Catra’s nightmares and decided Salineas checked each one on the list. Maybe it was all a giant hallucination Shadow Weaver had cooked up, a terrible shadow kingdom with all of Catra’s least favorite activities devised just to torture her.Except Shadow Weaver had never needed to go to that much effort to hurt her.
Relationships: Adora & Catra (She-Ra), Adora/Catra (She-Ra)
Comments: 1
Kudos: 28





	Rock Tumbling

Salineas had been a terrible place. There was the water, the almost drowning, a freaking boat? Sure, a good bout of seasickness builds character, as the commanders liked to say. But then the hugging. Gross. It was like Shadow Weaver had seen all of Catra’s nightmares and decided Salineas checked each one on the list. Maybe it was all a giant hallucination Shadow Weaver had cooked up, a terrible shadow kingdom with all of Catra’s least favorite activities devised just to torture her.

Except Shadow Weaver had never needed to go to that much effort to hurt her.

Finally arriving in the city had been worse than all of it, though. Catra apprehended Adora, or She-Ra, rather, spoke to her. Saw that horrible, gaudy tiara, and it just failed to make any logical sense.

So she did what she’d learned to do in situations like those from a young age.

She poked it.

The image was solid. She-Ra didn’t break apart into pixels or smoke. But Catra’s heart felt like it did.

\--

About 10 years ago, teams got assigned in the Fright Zone. Adora was stupidly ecstatic about the whole thing, even when they got the kingdom girl assigned to them. For a girl who’d grown up in a place that was dumb enough not to have a standing army--well, yeah. Lonnie was exactly what Catra would expect. Dumb. Least, that’s what she said out loud.

But Lonnie always had a better comeback to Catra’s quick jabs, and it always made Adora laugh, and if Catra couldn’t be the strong one, and she also wasn’t the smart one, or the one who made Adora laugh, then where’d that leave her on the new team now that it wasn’t just them running the orphanage together anymore?

By the end of dinner, she and Adora had sorta made up, and the scratches on Adora’s cheek had all but vanished. Adora seemed excited about the course the team would be running tomorrow. Catra figured she could at least be the fast one. The whole Fright Zone would turn out for the cadets’ initiations, and if she could prove herself there, in front of everyone, maybe that’d be enough for Adora not to leave her behind. It may even be enough to impress Shadow Weaver, which made the idea even more appealing.

She decided on it then and there, curling her small claws around her blanket, and pulling it up to her chest. For the first time in a long time, the bed actually felt cozy.

When she woke up, rested enough, adrenaline pumping, ready to show the rest of the Fright Zone exactly who they were dealing with, she’d thought it could be the making of a great day. Lots of Force Captains got their wings starting day one at the Academy, making a name for themselves by hitting the hardest, getting through the mud pit the quickest, running the fastest, or aiming the sharpest. The relay determined not just your position on your team, but in the whole Horde machine.

Catra got on her uniform, made sure her belt was tight, and tried to force the poof of her hair down a little. A lost cause, it turned out. She was almost the last one out of the dorms, except Adora had waited for her. She smiled a toothy smile when Catra appeared, waving at her.

“There you are, Catra. C’mon, don’t wanna be late on the first day!”

Catra laughed, falling into stride beside her friend. “Relax, we’ve got plenty of time, Adora.” It was good to see things still felt the same, even with their new lives beginning.

Adora was practically purring herself as she ran out ahead of Catra towards the training grounds. “Let’s take the shortcut so we can catch up with the rest of the group.”

Catra rolled her eyes, but went running after her nonetheless. Sometimes it felt like all her life was chasing after Adora. Wasn’t a bad place to be, though.

She watched Adora leap for the pipes overhead, and cross them like monkey bars. Catra leaped up after, so she didn’t see what happened that led to that gutwrenching scream.

Oh crap.

“Adora?” Panic infiltrated her voice as she jumped down to the other side and saw how Adora’s leg was twisted out of place into some grotesque shape that made her stomach do flips. “A-Adora, what’s…”

No no no no no, Shadow Weaver was going to skin her for letting this happen.

“Don’t touch it!” Adora’s voice was an anxious, stifled sob. “I-I need a medic, Catra, I-I think it’s broken.”

Catra’s hand retracted like she’d been bitten, and she nodded quickly. “I’ll be right back, okay?” Adora just nodded miserably, but this was what Catra had told herself last night. She could prove herself as the fastest. And she did, begging one of the medics at the sidelines of the course to come with her to tend to her friend. She didn’t even have time to listen as the training commanders took the stage to explain the importance of the event, or the medals that could be awarded. She just knew Adora was hurt, and they had to help her.

She brought the medic back to where Adora had fallen, but when they got there, Adora was gone.

“No, she was, she was here, I know she was.”

The medic crossed their arms. “I should write you up for wasting my time like this.”

Catra shook her head. “Someone else must’ve found her. Maybe Shadow Weaver…?”

The mention of the old witch made the medic stand up straighter. “Shadow Weaver is watching the relay from her personal quarters, and she would hardly trifle herself with the injuries of a careless cadet.” Catra bared her teeth, but the medic hardly appeared to take notice. “You need to return to the training grounds. If you’re late, you won’t be permitted to participate, and from the sounds of it, your team is already down a member. That will reflect poorly in your files.”

Catra’s ears flicked back. She couldn’t let down the team, but she couldn’t let Adora take the fall from Shadow Weaver alone, either.

She dashed away from the medic and charged towards Shadow Weaver’s chambers, determined to show Adora she could protect her, too. She kept sniffing the air in the hopes of catching some hint of where Adora had hidden herself, but all her nose caught were chemicals and oil and gas, the burnt smoke of electrical wires.

She arrived breathless in front of Shadow Weaver’s door. She wasn’t proud, but she had to take a moment to calm her nerves. Then she knocked on the cool metal door, and it hissed open.

Shadow Weaver had all angles of the obstacle course on the screens in her room. The roll calls for names were being shouted. Catra was going to be late after all.

Shadow Weaver turned and smiled at her through that haunting, evil mask. “Catra, to what do I owe the pleasure?”

Her ears flattened. She didn’t see or hear Adora. “I-I can’t find Adora.” Shadow Weaver’s favorite topic was usually Adora. Or how Catra was nothing without Adora. Losing Adora would probably not go over super well.

Shadow Weaver frowned. “Why, she’s where you should be,” her voice drifted softly, but the words froze Catra to the bone. She heard her own name called out, to silence, and then some scattered boos from the crowd when she didn’t answer. Catra stared in horror as the camera panned over her team--and Adora was there, standing tall on both legs, looking--disappointed.

Catra took a step back. “No, wait, she was--she was hurt, I saw her fall.”

Shadow Weaver shook her head. “It’s a shame these first impressions last so long here. Perhaps, you should be more careful playing those silly little games with Adora. Next time, someone may actually get hurt.”

In a puff of smoke conjured out of the air, Shadow Weaver produced Adora, writhing on the ground with a broken leg. Catra’s heart could’ve stopped or fallen out of her chest. She took a step closer, only this time when Adora said not to touch, she did. She poked her right in the forehead, and the illusion scattered into smoke and shadow.

“Now run along, Catra. I expect your commander will wonder why you’ve decided to let your team down today.”

Catra didn’t let herself cry until she was far away from Shadow Weaver. Then the tears came hard and heavy and she hated them for showing her weakness. Hated how they made her look broken when she was actually full of fire and anger and hate. They burned her eyes and her skin and she felt her bones burning, too. It was too much anger for her small body to hold onto, so it all spilled out in screams and fists and claws tearing at her pillow.

\--

Catra never forgot her favorite new way of dealing with magic. Poking it usually seemed to do the trick. It even worked in that stupid hologram Adora had gotten her stuck in. She was pretty damn excited when the whole thing turned out to be a fake Fright Zone, excited to tell Adora not to blame her or be scared.

Adora had figured it out herself, though, when she caught sight of their old memories running through the halls. There was a spar where she’d poked Adora, and Lonnie had intervened.

Catra remembered poking Adora in many of their old spars. She also did it at lunch sometimes, or while they studied together, or laid in bed talking. Adora had started smiling when she’d picked up the habit, like it was some inside joke they had. Catra had never told her why she’d started, and she definitely wasn’t going to tell her she kept doing it cuz Adora smiled so soft when she did.

Those were some of the good days. But the hologram must’ve sensed the happiness that sprang from it all, because it quickly turned dark again.

As if she needed another weird old lady rooting around in her head.

\--

Salineas wasn’t all bad, nowadays. The place sold the best fish. She liked the smell of salt in the air. She liked the feel of the warm sand under her feet. It brought her back to the days in the Wastes when she’d walked miles with Scorpia and first began thinking about what could really make her happy.

Catra liked the sounds here, and the smells, and the pirates. But mostly, she liked the view. Adora came out here often to sketch the stars, and Catra saw her down on the beach, doing that now, more an introspective professor than warrior woman the way she studied them.

Catra paid the vendor she’d stopped at for the ice creams, and wandered down to the beach. She perched on a rock beside Adora, licked her ice cream, and waited for her to notice she was there. The soft hum of the wind carried a warm breeze with it, and the gentle lapping of the ocean on the sand smoothed the footprints of passers-by. Water had always scared Catra. Maybe she was like one of those jagged rocks that got tumbled around beneath the current until it was smooth and finally deposited on the beach, palatable to the senses. Other people could handle her now that her edges had been sanded down. Adora, though? She’d been there from the beginning, and hadn’t thrown her back in when she wasn’t all healed, when she still carried scars and claw marks that other people didn’t like to see. She kept trying to pick Catra up and out of the current, just the way she was. Over and over again.

Adora eventually looked up, bright blue eyes gleaming with starlight. “Hey, Catra.” She closed her notepad, stood up, and stretched towards the sky.

Catra grinned, standing up after her and handing her her ice cream to settle that sweet tooth. “Hey, Adora.”

Adora smiled, sheepish and warm as she accepted the treat. “There’s food at game night. You didn’t need to do this.”

“I wouldn’t call any of that green stuff food. No better than the ration bars, anyway. I know you hate all the weird veggie platters just as much as I do.”

Adora flushed. “I hope it’s not that obvious to Spinnerella.” She licked her ice cream. “She puts a lot of work into them.”

An eruption of affection bloomed in Catra’s stomach and caught in her chest as she gazed at her partner. Adora tilted her head curiously. “What? She does.”

“I know,” Catra managed after a moment. She cupped Adora’s cheek. “I just--love you.” Catra pressed their foreheads together. This was real. She loved remembering that. “You’re a good friend. I’ll help you scarf a few down tonight so she doesn’t feel too bad.”

Adora looked skeptical, a smile dancing at the corners of her mouth. “Really. You’re going to eat a vegetable?”

“I’m going to pretend to eat a vegetable.” Her hand found Adora’s, their fingers lacing, soft fur against calloused hands from years of holding a sword, and more years holding a pen. “And I won’t say a single bad word about the snacks unless I lose to Netossa.”

Adora sighed, turning and kissing her ears. “And there I went, daring to hope you’d matured.”

“Your life would be so. Boring.” That made Adora laugh. Now that had to be the most beautiful sound in any kingdom across the galaxy.


End file.
